Three jawans killed, a militant gunned down in encounter in Jammu and Kashmir

Srinagar: Three soldiers of the Rashtriya Rifles and a militant were killed this morning in a gun-battle in south Kashmir, an army officer said.

Troops of counter-insurgency force Rashtriya Rifles and police were laying a cordon around Bachoo village of Tral tehsil in Pulwama district, 35 km from the state capital Srinagar, when militants opened fire at them, spokesperson for the army's Srinagar-based 15 Corps Lieutenant Colonel Ankur Vasisht told IANS.

"Three soldiers were killed in the militant fire," he said, adding that the security forces returned the fire in which a militant was killed.

"A militant, identified as Burhan of Hizbul Mujahideen outfit, is believed to have been killed. But we are yet to recover his body as the gunfight is still on. One more soldier has sustained injuries in the gunfight," the officer added.

The attack on security forces in Kashmir comes a day after police killed Hilal Molvi, a commander of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) group, in Srinagar yesterday morning.